The discussion of the prior art within this specification is to assist the addressee in understanding the invention and is not an admission of the extent of the common general knowledge in the field of the invention and is included without prejudice.
It is known to “link” gaming terminals to provide a number of additional functionalities. This includes the ability to control the awarding of a prize, as the pool of available funds is greater and the amount of funds available is known rather than having to be estimated. Another functionality of interlinked gaming terminals is that secondary gaming is possible. For example, for a given group of interlinked gaming terminals, a central display provides the gamers with a visual indication of a presently available jackpot prize that is being incrementally increased or decreased as the gamers operate the interlinked gaming terminals.
It is known by the gamers that the prize will be awarded when it is incremented or decremented to a randomly selected trigger value. The trigger value is determined randomly within a set of limits that typically will also be visually indicated to the gainers by the display. The use of such functionality is intended to provide additional impetus to the gamers to play the terminals and thereby win the jackpot prize in addition to any prize available to be awarded by the respective terminal.
In known gaming machines two elements of information are displayed to the user in addition to the display of the game itself. The first element is the remaining credit attributed to the user and the second element is the amount won (if any) for the game just played. In some known gaming machines a third element of information is displayed which is the amount bet or wagered on the game just played.
One problem with gaming machines is that large quantities of money can be input by a user without this being realized by the user. This problem is further compounded when a win is paid out which in some situations encourages the input of yet more money. In some cases, no win being paid encourages the input of further money.